to admit--the singular literary
obtuseness of the England of fifty years ago.]

[Footnote 4: A distinguished American philologist, the late George P.
Marsh, has declared that he exceeds all other modern English writers in
his employment of them.]

[Footnote 5: In "In Memoriam" we have such rhymes as:--

{now {curse {mourn {good {light {report
{low {horse {turn {blood {delight {port

In the blank verse of "The Princess," and of "Enoch Arden" such
assonances as:--

{sun {lost {whom {wand
{noon {burst {seem {hand.

{known {clipt {word
{down {kept {wood, etc.

I take these instances from the works of so acknowledged a master of
verse as Mr. Tennyson, rather than from those of a smaller poet who
would be no authority on the subject, because they thus serve to show
that the poetic ear may have different kinds as well as degrees of
sensibility, and must, in every case, be accepted as, to some extent, a
law to itself.]

[Footnote 6: "La Saisiaz," for instance, is written in the same measure
as "Locksley Hall," fifteen syllables, divided by a pause, into groups
of four trochees, and of three and a half--the last syllable forming the
rhyme. It is admirably suited to the sustained and incisive manner in
which the argument is carried on. "Ixion" in "Jocoseria," is in
alternate hexameter and pentameter, which the author also employs here
for the only time; it imitates the turning of the wheel on which Ixion
is bound. "Pheidippides" is in a measure of Mr. Browning's own, composed
of dactyls and spondees, each line ending with a half foot or pause. It
gives the impression of firm, continuous, and rhythmic motion, and is
generally fitted to convey the exalted sentiment and heroic character of
the poem.

In his translation of the "Agamemnon," Mr. Browning has used the double
ending continuously, so as to reproduce the extended measure of the
Greek iambic trimeter.]

[Footnote 7: As objection has been taken to the opinions conveyed in
this paragraph, and Mr. Browning's authority has been even, in a manner,
invoked against them, I subjoin by his desire the accompanying note. The
question of what is, or is not, a vicious locution is not essential to
the purposes of the book; but it is essential that I should not be
supposed to have misstated Mr. Browning's views on any point on which I
could so easily ascertain them.

"I make use of 'wast' for the secon